Tag Archives: Einstein

Einstein Agrees with the Lone Ranger

Posted on March 24, 2020 by N.S. Palmer

Albert Einstein and the Lone Ranger agree: Get over yourself. Albert Einstein was one of the smartest people of the 20th century. His ideas revolutionized our understanding of space and time. They also contributed to the development of quantum mechanics. … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Philosophy | Tagged Courage, Einstein, Life, Morality, The Lone Ranger, Wisdom | Leave a comment

Do Great Individuals Shape History?

Posted on April 22, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Is human history driven mainly by the actions of “great men”? It’s called the great man theory of history. Of course, the problem is that word “mainly.” Lots of things cause historical events. To say that a specific person was … Continue reading →

Posted in Judaism, Life, Philosophy, Psychology, Society | Tagged Adam and Eve, Aristotle, Buddha, Calculus, Confucius, Einstein, Empress Theodora, Gilgamesh, Great Man Theory, Greatness, Hammurabi, Historiography, History, Isaac Newton, Jesus, Leibniz, Moses, Theories of History, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment

Thought Experiments for Left and Right

Posted on January 31, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Whether your politics lean left or right, a couple of thought experiments can help you understand people who lean the other way. History’s most famous thought experiment inspired Albert Einstein‘s theory of special relativity. In 1895, aged only 16, Einstein … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Human Relations, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Einstein, Gedankenexperiment, Neuroscience, Novelty Seeking, Social Change, Social stability, Thought Experiment | 2 Comments

Can We Measure the Quality of Debates?

Posted on December 16, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

As an undergraduate mathematics major, I had to take three semesters of statistics. I’m pretty good at mathematics, but statistics is a different animal. To adapt the famous last words of English actor Edmund Gwenn, “Mathematics is easy. Statistics is … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Einstein, Logical argument, Logical fallacy, Measurement, Operationalization, Political Debate, Special Relativity theory, Statistics | Leave a comment

Never Give Up Hope

Posted on September 28, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal: War. Terrorism. Riots. Crime. Unemployment. Political corruption. Intolerance. There are many reasons to give up hope. Don’t. If you give up hope, then you give up on the future. If you give … Continue reading →